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Diagnosing Market Power in California's Deregulated Wholesale Electricity Market

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Author Info
Severin Borenstein (University of California Energy Institute and Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley)
James Bushnell (UC Energy Institute, Berkeley)
Frank Wolak (Stanford University and NBER)

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Abstract

Effective competition in wholesale electricity markets is the cornerstone of the deregulation of the electricity generation industry. We examine the degree of competition in the California wholesale electricity market during June-November 1998 by comparing the market prices with estimates of the prices that would have resulted if all firms were price takers. We find that there were significant departures from competitive pricing and that it was most pronounced during the highest demand periods. Overall, this raised the cost of power purchases by about 22% above the competitive level. We also explain why the prices observed cannot be attributed to competitive peak-load pricing.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Competition Policy Center, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley in its series Competition Policy Center, Working Paper Series with number CPC99-007.

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Date of creation: 01 Jul 1999
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:compol:cpc99-007

Note: oai:cdlib1:iber/cpc-1019
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Related research
Keywords: California deregulation electricity market

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  1. Aitor Ciarreta & Mari Paz Espinosa, 2005. "Market Power in the Spanish Electricity Auction," DFAEII Working Papers 200504, University of the Basque Country - Department of Foundations of Economic Analysis II. [Downloadable!]
  2. Paul L. Joskow, 2001. "California's Electricity Crisis," NBER Working Papers 8442, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Abolmassov Aleksandr & Kolodin Denis, 2003. "Structural changes in Russian electricity market," EERC Working Paper Series 01-016e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS. [Downloadable!]
  4. Aitor Ciarreta & María Paz Espinosa, 2003. "Market Power In The Spanish Wholesale Electricity Market," Working Papers. Serie AD 2003-22, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie). [Downloadable!]
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